9 months ago
38 ARTICLE AD
WWE
The match took a different shape than she likely planned, but Lyra Valkyria still managed to retain her "NXT" Women's Championship, fending off not just challenger Roxanne Perez but also Lola Vice, who unsuccessfully cashed in her "NXT" Women's Breakout Tournament contract.
Things were looking promising for Perez after she hit Pop Rox on Valkyria — until Vice's music hit, and she stormed toward the ring, contract in hand. A Valkyria-obsessed Tatum Paxley tried to intercept Vice, playing tug-of-war for a bit with the contract, but Vice prevailed, engaging a referee and making the cash-in official, turning the championship match into a triple threat.
Each woman had significant opportunities to win the match with a flurry of believable false finishes, but it was Paxley who ultimately made the big difference in the match, taking out Perez to enable Valkyria to take advantage and hit the Nightwish on Vice that led to the decisive pin.
Vice has been impressive since bursting onto the scene last year, getting her opportunity by winning the Breakout Tournament final over Kelani Jordan following preliminary round wins against Dani Palmer and Karmen Petrovic. Valkyria has held the "NXT" Women's Championship since late October, beating Becky Lynch for the belt at Halloween Havoc and successfully defending it on two previous televised occasions, once against Xia Li on an episode of "NXT" in November, and again at New Year's Evil in January, defeating Blair Davenport.
